Seattle teachers deliver superintendent a message

Seattle teachers deliver superintendent a message

SEATTLE — Members of the Seattle Education Association voted no to new proposed teacher’s contracts Monday evening and by Tuesday morning, teachers gathered to show solidarity in the negotiations.

About two dozen teachers held signs with a letter to Superintendent Jose Banda that asked the district to be fair and respect educators in the negotiations. The union the teacher’s are part of includes not only teachers but also staff members and represents more than 5,000 workers.

The SEA said there are three major hurdles preventing teachers from signing a new contract. They claim the district is asking teachers to work longer hours, include test scores in teacher evaluations and increase case load for school therapists and nurses. Teachers said those issues things have to be addressed before they start working this school year.

Rebecca Adams has been teaching elementary students for a dozen years and feels disrespected by the district’s proposal.

“It’s very insulting what they’re proposing for us — to work extra without pay,” she said. “We do that — not just a half hour a day — we work hours extra every day. We take work home with us.”

The SEA hopes to resume negotiations Tuesday. They plan to address the media on the progress on Wednesday.

2 comments

Kit

Our priorities are mixed-up. Why do we pay college coaches millions? Why pay professional athletes millions? And then turn your children over to over-worked teachers in over-crowded classrooms. America needs to support education and make fun, games and entertainment second.

Fox

Rebecca Adams took from Oct- Nov abandoning her class room to visit twitter boy friend in Trinidad saying she was griving husband 's death when he past in June, first visit was one week after his funeral which she said was a school district paid trip.